GARRIOCH SUNDAY: Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher exploring his options

New Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team general manager Chuck Fletcher is evaluating the team during the current five-game road trip.Jose F. moreno / AP

Chuck Fletcher has lots on his plate.

Named the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers last week, Fletcher put the team on notice that he’ll keep a close eye on what takes place during the club’s five-game road trip that got underway Saturday with an impressive 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. After the trip ends, he’ll start to make decisions on what kind of changes are ahead.

Fletcher has been working the phones since he took over his role with the Flyers on Monday. Once his NHL counterparts got congratulations out of the way, they spent time trying to get a handle on what kind of tinkering he might do with the underachieving Flyers.

Ron Hextall was fired because of his patient approach, but the Flyers are still hopeful they can make the playoffs this spring, which means changes could be made.

Could former Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville be in the mix to take over as coach in Philadelphia if the Flyers decide to make a change from Dave Hakstol?Nam Y. Huh /
AP

Several areas are under the microscope:

Coaching: Dave Hakstol has a 134-98-41 record in 273 games behind the club’s bench. It would make sense for Fletcher to want to bring in his own coach because he didn’t hire Hakstol. Joel Quenneville (Chicago), Alain Vigneault (Rangers) and Mike Yeo (St. Louis) are all sitting on the sidelines waiting to get back in.

At this point, the best bet may be to evaluate Hakstol and see where this goes.

Goaltending: The Flyers have used five goalies this season mainly because of injury issues, but Michal Neuvirth is back. The belief is Fletcher is going to have to address the club’s need here if the Flyers are going to take the next step.

The options are limited, but the name of Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky has surfaced. It would be hard to believe the Jackets would trade him to a conference rival, but if the Jackets have no chance to sign him, then who knows?

Depth: There’s no question the Flyers should be better than they are. They’ve got a lot of talent up front, but Fletcher has insisted they need to be better defensively. He doesn’t have any ties to any of these players because he didn’t sign them.

He’ll have lots of teams offering up help.

Teams have been inquiring about the availability of big St. Louis Blues defenceman Colton Parayko.Bill Boyce /
AP

OFF THE GLASS

After firing Yeo and placing Craig Berube into an interim role behind the St. Louis bench, GM Doug Armstrong has been working the phones. Yes, the club has untouchables, but there’s no question that Armstrong is holding plenty of trade talks, with lots of names being mentioned. “All bets are off in St. Louis,” said one league executive. Added another: “They’ve got lots of names out there right now. … A lot of names.” The Blues made a deal to get Ryan O’Reilly from the Sabres in the off-season because they wanted to right the ship, but that hasn’t worked out. Teams have been calling about blueliner Colton Parayko. He has a cap hit of $5.5 million per season through 2021-22. Coming off a 1-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night, the Blues were still nine points out of the final wildcard spot. … It was no surprise the Toronto Maple Leafs signed William Nylander to a six-year deal worth a cap hit of $6.77 million per season at last Saturday’s 5 p.m. deadline, but it didn’t get done easily. The Leafs did see if there was a trade market for Nylander before he agreed to the deal, and the belief is as many as 15 teams called to see what the asking price might be. In the end, it made sense for both sides to get the deal done, however many are wondering why it took so long to get there. … The Penguins are playing better hockey, but teams indicate GM Jim Rutherford has been busy. The Penguins are always open for business.

There has been lots of interest shown in the Los Angeles Kings’ Tyler Toffoli, a former Ottawa 67.Mark J. Terrill /
AP

RUMOURS DU JOUR

Since the decision to fire coach John Stevens hasn’t really changed a whole lot, the word is Los Angeles Kings GM Rob Blake has been working the phones before the holiday roster freeze Dec. 19. The Kings aren’t happy with a lot of underachievers on their roster and nobody should be surprised if there are more changes made there. The Kings are getting lots of inquires about forward Tyler Toffoli and they already moved Tanner Pearson to the Penguins earlier this season. … Trying to stay in the playoff race in the East, Florida GM Dale Tallon has been looking around for help. The word is the Panthers wouldn’t mind adding another defenceman to the mix as soon as possible. … Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will have his hands full this summer trying to decide what route to take with restricted free agent winger Patrik Laine. Coming out of his entry-level contract, Laine already has 21-3-24 points in 28 games this season. Of course the Jets won’t be alone on this front because the Maple Leafs are in a similar situation with forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. … Sounds like Chicago GM Stan Bowman has been busy working the phones. While The Athletic’s Scott Powers reported Friday the Hawks are looking to move blueliners Jan Rutta and Brandon Manning, the changes may not stop there. The talk among league executives is forward Artem Anisimov is another name being discussed. He has a contract that runs through 2020-21 with a cap hit of $4.5 million. … Wonder if former Buffalo GM Tim Murray will land in a role with Philly when all is said and done? He is close with Fletcher and it would make sense if Murray was brought on board.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.